Most automotive vehicles are equipped with an instrument panel. The instrument panel serves to help cushion the impact felt by an occupant during a vehicle crash. The instrument panel also serves an aesthetic purpose, namely to cover the electronics and mechanical components which comprise the interior of the vehicle. For instance, the steering column will have circuitry attached thereto to provide sensory control. Also, fuse boxes and things of that nature are located and hidden within the instrument panel. During impact a passenger's knee or body may be forced forward and into the instrument panel. This impact creates a reactionary force on the occupant's body part. Such force is commonly known to be dissipated through various devices in the art such as a knee bolster.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,606 to Riefe et al. discloses an apparatus and method for absorbing energy in response to a vehicle crash which includes a knee bolster, the knee bolster having at least one breakaway portion, the breakaway portion formed by a bead formed on the interior of the instrument panel. The bead is strategically placed so as to be adjacent to the predicted area in which a knee will impact. As the knee impacts the knee drives the instrument panel inwardly and eventually the instrument panel will break along the beads so as to help absorb the energy from the occupant's knee.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,518 to Mullan discloses an energy absorbing knee bolster. The knee bolster has a U-shaped bracket wherein the prongs of the “U” support the knee bolster panel. The knee bolster panel is configured so as to make contact or absorb contact from an occupant's knee and then drive the two prongs inwardly towards each other so as to absorb energy from the impact. The impact causes a portion of the lower instrument panel to break away from the instrument panel assembly. This results in a less efficient transfer of kinetic energy.
Thus it is desirable to have the lower panel maintain structural integrity, i.e. the lower panel does not break away after impact. However, if the lower panel is positively and lockingly engaged so as to remain flush with the instrument panel assembly, then subsequent maintenance on mechanical and electrical components such as the steering column or the fuse box will require that the panel be disengaged. Thus a vehicle owner will replace the entire instrument panel assembly which will then increase the cost of maintenance because the lower panel is lockingly fixed to the vehicle. Accordingly it is desirable to have an instrument panel assembly wherein the lower instrument panel is able to be lockingly engaged with the vehicle upon collision but yet allows the instrument lower panel to be removed so that maintenance may be performed without having to replace the entire panel.